By Mike Hogan
It was 3rd down and 10 from the 13 yard line with just over a minute left in the NFC Championship game between the Los Angeles Rams and the New Orleans Saints. The game was tied and a trip to the Super Bowl was on the line. Drew Brees, the sure-to-be hall of fame quarterback for the Saints, took the snap and dropped back to throw. Brees threw what looked to be a good ball intended for wide receiver Tommylee Davis, but what happened while the ball spiraled in the air and hopelessly made its descent into the turf set off a firestorm across the NFL that is all too similar.
Rams defensive back Nickell Robey-Coleman viciously struck Davis while the ball was in flight right in front of a referee – blatant pass interference, right? No flags. No referees huddling on the field to overturn the missed call. Just chaos.
Saints head coach Sean Payton sprinted down the sideline and argued in fury with referees, while Saints players and fans threw fits of their own. Heck, even Robey-Coleman looked for a flag to be thrown after the play. Joe Buck and Troy Aikman, the broadcasters for Fox, sounded as baffled as ever. Fans and journalists across the country took to social media to yet again berate, degrade and question the NFL. A giant debacle.
The Saints ended up kicking a field goal to take a 23-20 lead, only to see it fade away in the waning seconds of regulation as the Rams tied it up with field goal. The game went to overtime where Brees threw an interception and the Rams kicked another field goal to win the game and march on to the franchises second Super Bowl.
But the dust didn’t settle there, and it won’t for a while. Saints players and coaches dejectedly talked with the media postgame, and many others took to social media to kick more dirt toward the NFL. Countless articles, videos and pictures were published, shaming the referees. All while the NFL, yet again, had to publicly admit to the disaster that unfolded.
The truth is that the Saints were indeed robbed a trip to Super Bowl 53 by those men in stripes. Those men that are paid to get things right at the highest level of sport, but always seem to screw it up. Who knows what happens if the Saints get that call to go in their favor, but if I were a betting man, Brees gets that ball into the end-zone and the Saints win. The way it should’ve been.
Make no mistake, being a referee at the professional level is a very difficult job. One call and one moment can influence an outcome of a game so much, as many of us have seen. But so often we see what happened in the NFC Championship game. A team robbed of victory by an egregious, blatant no-call or a terrible phantom call, ruining games and sending coaches, players and fans into a frenzy.
And then the NFL comes, sending another “We are sorry, we really screwed up. We will be better next time!” message. But what about that? Nothing ever seems to change. I almost feel like I see a new “That was the worst call I have ever seen!” every year. When will we see changes? When will these men in stripes finally get things right? When will we see an end to teams getting screwed?
And those are the questions that are hard to answer – questions I have been asking for too long as a fan of the great sport of football. While it’s easy to make the stale argument that a game shouldn’t come down to one call, it’s time to do without that one. It becomes exhausting watching the same old stories unfold each year with referees. And how much longer will some fans be willing to watch this madness before turning their backs on the NFL?
Change is needed, and it is needed soon. What happened at the Mercedes Benz Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on Sunday, Jan. 20 was a disgrace. A disgrace that I and the majority of NFL fans believe cost the Saints big time. A disgrace that I hope to never see again, but probably will. If the referees just got things right, the NFL wouldn’t have to go through this embarrassment. I am losing faith in the NFL, and I am sure many of you reading this are too. Enough is enough.
Mike Hogan is the Sports Editor of The Bona Venture.
His email is hoganm17@bonaventure.edu
